Ezekiel 45:13-17: Offerings

We have spent time with Ezekiel 45 before but today we focus on the offerings portion – what it is we offer back to God. I am thinking about how much more meaning our lives might have if we were to each day give something back to God that we have produced. What would it be? In our ultra modern, techno-savvy, global, sophisticated way of living . . . what do we actually make with our hands, hearts and minds? We have come so far from the primitive beings who first inhabited Africa and the Tigris-Euphrates areas of the prehistoric world that . . . I am wondering if we have not tricked ourselves into thinking that we do not need to trust God.

When early tribes were hunters and gatherers, it was clear who and what provided for them. As they followed herds and crops they dealt with drought, deluge, scarcity and plenty. They had to learn how to conserve and share. They had to learn both the basics and complexities of survival, and then they passed these lessons on to their offspring. I am wondering if we have not fooled ourselves into thinking that we have mastered nature . . . and so do not need to rely on God.

Our Western life is worlds away from the poor of the second and third worlds. We may forget that only a small portion of the those of us living on the globe today have running water, enough food for our children, decent clothing and housing, and basic medical care. Now that humanity has made so many advances in the fields of medicine, nutrition, and technology, I am wondering if some of us have made these our gods and have kept ourselves safe while not thinking about others . . . and I am wondering if we have not deluded ourselves into thinking that we do not need to love God as God exists in each and all of us.

I am wondering if we could each evening bring forth the products of our day in order to place them on the kitchen table as we sit to eat our evening meal if we would recognize what it is we have made. And I am wondering what it is we would offer back to God . . . in gratitude for his care for us that day. I am wondering if these offerings would come from our best. I am wondering if these gifts would be found gracious in the eyes of God.